Guaraldi has a delightful way around a keyboard — quirky, humorous, deep piano playing that warms the soul and makes you smile. A wonderful soft energy fills this understated jazz collection that exudes pure holiday magic.

This 1957 is a great addition to any holiday music collection. I love the first cut, Frank’s version of Jingle Bells. The rest is very traditional, very 50′s. A perfect gift for your Aunt with all those cats.

No holiday collection is complete without this Sinatra holiday album.

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• Papa Bear’s Chocolate Haus: Every year, a friend in California sends us the chocolate toffee with nuts, from this Mendicino shop — and it is heavenly. This is quite simply the most delicious stuff I’ve ever had.

Astonishingly, they don’t have a webpage, but as Google reveals, they are well loved for a reason. (707) 937-4406

Need a last minute gift for your office cut up? Have a boss you don’t particularly care for? Look no further than the Butt Station — the perfect gift for the imperfect ass.

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• Louie: Season One ($20) This is simply the funniest show on television in years. Sharply written, fearless, Louie C.K.’s has created the anti-sitcom; its what television can be when the suits don’t get involved.

Dark, hilarious, absurd.

Louie, the series on FX, is simply brilliant.

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• Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS10 ($235) This is the latest and greatest in the pocket sized Lumix line with the Leica lens. It features a 14.1 MP chip, 16x Wide Angle Optical Image, Stabilized Zoom, HD Video, Built-In GPS Function — and a touch screen, which accounts for much of the price differential versus the older ZS8

Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS8 ($150) this is a solid, dependable pocket camera that takes great photos. 14.1 MP chip, 16x Wide Angle Optical Image, Stabilized Zoom, HD Video, Built-In GPS Function. It may not have a touch screen, and its HD video is saved in MPEG format, but its a helluva buy at this price.(Note you can save even more money by getting the DMC-ZS9, which Panasonic tells me is the foreign version of this camera for $130)

A Fistful of Dollars launched the spaghetti Western and catapulted Clint Eastwood to stardom. Based on Akira Kurosawa’s 1961 samurai picture Yojimbo. And The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly has long been one of my favorite westerns, am epic vision of greed and betrayal (Also available in DVD format, with Hang ‘em High, for $12.50)

An excellent introduction to the major works of PKD. I have read nearly all of these in my youth, and they were fascinating and influential — for anyone interested in the question: What is perception? And what is reality if perception is so easily skewed?

For your geekiest friend: This collection includes the major works of Dick:The Man in the High Castle (1962); The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (1965); Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968); Ubik (1969) Martian Time-Slip (1964); Dr. Bloodmoney, or How We Got Along After the Bomb (1965); Now Wait for Last Year (1966); Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said (1974); A Scanner Darkly (1977); A Maze of Death (1970); VALIS (1981); The Divine Invasion (1981); The Transmigration of Timothy Archer (1982)

One size fits all for your friends and family. Find branches of your family tree; Learn what your genes mean for your health in terms of your potentially inheritable diseases; Includes 1-year subscription to the Personal Genome Service to get them started.

Well, a few days ago, these arrived, and they are pretty outrageous. The large Salad Server has a detailed Octopus adorned the wooden bowl, which is about 16 inches across. You can also add Crab or Octopus accented salad bowls ($160 for a set of 4).

The firm notes their work is of “Noble Materials, Inspired Lines, Captivating Styles.” Indeed.

Star Wars: The Blueprints brings together the original blueprints created for the filming of the Star Wars Saga. Drawn from deep within the Lucasfilm Archives, a precise, vivid, and intricate detail the very genesis of the most enduring sci fi work ever to appear onscreen. (at least the original trilogy, and not the debacle that followed)

Melding science and art, these drawings giving birth to fantastic new worlds, ships, and creatures.

This is a limited edition of only 5,000 hand-numbered English language copies. The perfect gift to get from a Star Wars nerd who has too much money . . .

Please use the comments to demonstrate your own ignorance, unfamiliarity with empirical data and lack of respect for scientific knowledge. Be sure to create straw men and argue against things I have neither said nor implied. If you could repeat previously discredited memes or steer the conversation into irrelevant, off topic discussions, it would be appreciated. Lastly, kindly forgo all civility in your discourse . . . you are, after all, anonymous.

BTW, Happy Hannukah and thanks for the always insightful and interesting site over 2011. I still don’t know how you find so much time because it obviously does take a lot of effort. It’s truly appreciated.

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About Barry Ritholtz

Ritholtz has been observing capital markets with a critical eye for 20 years. With a background in math & sciences and a law school degree, he is not your typical Wall St. persona. He left Law for Finance, working as a trader, researcher and strategist before graduating to asset managementRead More...

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